Steel rings, such as bearing races, are often heat treated to achieve desirable material characteristics. For example, a bearing race may be heated to very high temperatures to create an austenitic microstructure in the race and then may be rapidly quenched and cooled with a liquid to create a martensitic microstructure for desired hardness. After quenching, the martensitic race may be undesirably brittle and, thus, may be tempered at medium temperatures to toughen the race.
But rapid quenching of a steel ring, especially a thin-walled bearing race, may distort the race to an unacceptable degree. The distorted race then must be ground to final size and shape to a significant degree using expensive and time consuming grinding machines and operations. Accordingly, various methods have been developed to minimize distortion of steel rings during quenching operations to minimize downstream grinding operations. While many of these methods are adequate, there is much room for improvement in control of workpiece roundness and flatness, machine productivity, and process flexibility.